To the editor:
Recent events as a result of George Floyd's death have ended with other tragedies and questions of Minneapolis minorities and also the police. My wife and I both came from a small town, mine being Alexandria, and moved to the Twin Cities and lived there after our marriage for over 40 years. We see and try to understand multiple sides to the what and why of recent happenings in Minneapolis.
My wife and I were young when moving to the Twin Cities, ignorant, and me being a poor college graduate, ended up living for one of two years in a low-income HUD townhouse project on Humboldt Avenue. Most people living there were low-income people and minorities. Martin Luther King was assassinated during our residence there. It was an education to me as a small-town hick to say the least. But we learned to respect, like, and yes admire most the residents.
During this period, I saw an incident where Minneapolis police pulled and slammed a while man across his car hood so hard that I was surprised he was still conscious. I drove on but wondered how they might have treated a black man. Many black residents definitely were afraid of law enforcement.
And yes it is a real shame a number of those thousands of protesters did so much damage to much of their own community stores and offices. But their inequality on so many fronts has continued for decades.
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The majority of law enforcement personnel are good people in a tough occupation. We are so fortunate in our city and county to have really good people. I cannot be more emphatic about that. But there are bad cops in some places around the country. The problem which resulted in the Minneapolis powder keg is that bad cops often remained on the force after having earlier, serious altercations. It takes special people to be good, tolerant law enforcement people, and I salute those whole-heartedly.
Let us all try to be more open-minded and compassionate of our fellow human beings.
Gary Zavadil
Alexandria MN
